A moment in time: Floral fancies

No matter how times change, the love of beautiful things never dims. Flowers have always been associated with love and romance. From vendors who hawked fresh blooms in a street of Chengdu, Sichuan province, in the 1986 photo, to a florist recommending silk blossoms on Valentine's Day in her shop in Xuchang, Henan province, in the 2014 photo, flowers have always been popular. Roses and chrysanthemums were popular in the 1980s, but today an increasing number of exotic varieties are found in the vases of ordinary Chinese families.